By far the craziest thing I've set out to do yet.....

Consider yourself warned, this is by far the craziest thing I've made up my mind to do YET... I'm sure there will be crazier ideas in the future but for now this is it.

I'm going to run a Half Marathon. Yep. Me.

I'm posting this here for a few reasons

1. accountability, because Lord knows I need to be held accountable for something....
   
2. motivation, because sometimes there are just things I'd rather be doing than running....
3. because I can.

Makenna and I went and saw "Julie & Julia" yesterday and the movie got me thinking.....I could do that. But that would require massive amounts of cooking, eating and would probably cost a small fortune. That would not be good. BUT, I could train for a Half Marathon and blog about that... now that's something I could do!! It's an idea I've toyed around with for a while now, would greatly improve my running and be good for me a the same time. At this point it is only an idea, the next step is to come up with a training plan. I've been looking at a few different ones so I will make a decision on one of them, tweak it as needed to fit my life and fitness level and then I will post it here. I will have the training plan in place so that when I get back from Vermont next month I can start it the week I return. In a perfect world I would be able to do this before the end of the year- which would also allow me to cross off another 'goal' that I set at the beginning of the year- but according to Active.com there are no half marathons going on in December :o( there is however one in Irvine in January. I may not be able to cross it off this year but what an awesome way to start the new year right??
So, there you have it, my 'tentative' goal race will be in January, I will button down the training plan and start it when I return from Vermont. I'm not decided yet if I will try to blog daily and post about each workout or if I should make it a weekly post...more on that to follow.

Epiphanies and Kryptonite

A while back I wrote about how I was not cut out to be a distance runner, that I didn't understand why I felt the need to run any farther than 4 miles because anything longer than that was just painfully boring....fast forward a few months and about a hundred miles and BAM it turns out I may be cut out to be a distance runner after all. Who'd a thunk it?? I've realized in the past few weeks that after mile 2 or 3 comes "the zone" everyone talks about. I've known for a while that the first mile is just crap, it's like the first pancake of the batch- garbage. My legs just never feel right, my breathing hasn't mellowed and my head still hasn't commited at this point. But if I hang in there, past the first mile, past the second mile it comes. Mile 3 feels good, mile 4 feels good and mile 5 feels like I'm starting to get tired but could go another if I had to. It's still quite odd to me. I still sometimes don't believe that I'm doing it. But on those days where I don't let my head talk me out of it, if I keep on running and pound out the miles, it feels FABULOUS.

Over the past few months I've had some stress- it seems I've given the Men in my life way too much. Too much power, too much control, too much of myself. They have taken too much of my time, self esteem, confidence and I refuse to give them anything more. Running is the ONE THING that I control, I do it for ME and on MY terms. I won't let ANYONE take this from me.

Kryptonite- another lesson learned is that SUN and HEAT are Kryptonite!! I may as well be running underwater with cinder blocks on my feet if it gets too hot! I keep reminding myself that aside from running Summer is my very favorite season and I must enjoy it! Squeeze in a run when it's cool and enjoy the day for what it is. Stay away from 9:00am start times for races because only crazy people run after 8:00am and if you cannot avoid it make sure you have plenty of water with you.... your gonna need it!

work in progress

I've been following Kristin Armstrong's blog on Runner's World.com for quiet some time now. I am never dissapointed in her posts. On the contrary, I am almost always left with the feeling that she was speaking directly to me and that she and I are somehow connected. I'm sure that seems weird considering I have never met the woman and she knows nothing about me but it's true. I love the way she writes and her words wrap you up the way an old friend would having not seen you for way too long. After reading her last blog entry and feeling like I couldn't get enough I went in search of other things she has written. In my search I discovered that she wrote a book called "work in progress - An unfinished woman's guide to grace". I went out that very night to buy it. In my first sitting with the book I'm about 1/3 of the way thru it and I already know that I will read it again the minute I'm finished- there are pages highlighted and once again, she has spoken directly to me.

So, what is it about her writing that speaks so loudly to my heart? She too is a mother raising 2 girls and 1 boy, she is a runner and most importantly she is a self proclaimed 'work in progress'. I feel about this book the way Oprah did when she read A New Earth (which I also loved). I remember her saying she went out and bought 30 copies of the book and gave them out. I intend to do the same (at least my scaled down version), I plan on going out and buying 3 copies of it to pass on (I refuse to part with my copy which will be dog-eared in no time!). I'm not sure yet who will receive them, but whomever it is they will be blessed.

I cannot expect every person I tell about this book to go out and read it, but if I could just share one paragraph from the book it would be this one. Keeping in mind I'm only 1/3 of the way thru the book, thus far this paragraph has touched me to the core and is my favorite paragraph:
"There is one surefire way to build trust with God. Scour His Word for His Promises and put them to the test! When you come up against a situation or circumstance beyond your own ability, instead of getting frightened or frustrated or calling everyone you know, try getting quiet." Now those are some powerful words! Let me think, how many times a day do I get frightened or frustrated and go on blabbing my mouth about it??? Oh maybe 1000! No matter how old I get I must be reminded, sometimes constantly, that I do NOT always know what is best and that I could use some Grace in my life and I too am a work in progress...

Will run for watermelon!!

Thursday evening Michelle, Josh and I ran the Summer Solstice Watermelon run, it was a 5 mile run thru El Dorado Park in Long Beach. It was kind of odd running on a Thursday evening and both Michelle and I thought it added a bit to the excitement. I tend to run best in the evening so I was thrilled at not having to be at a start line at 7am on a Sunday morning. Jessica went for moral support and she was given the job of "official photographer" which was kinda nice not having to worry about that part of it, but it was very nice seeing her smiling face at the halfway mark and again at the finish.
We get there, get our numbers, hit the bathrooms and line up at the Start line, which was facing the wrong way so standing behind it you couldn't see that the banner said START. This was my first indication that this run was not as organized as most we've done. Then I see a man and a woman standing on top of ladders next to the start line, wait their mouths are moving- he is giving directions! Verbally telling us what the course was (HUH????) well thank GOD I wasn't leading this pack because I couldn't hear a word he was saying.... and then she sang the National Anthem (from where we were she was lip singing!) and away we went. The course was flat with a few rolling hills, nothing major, nicely paved and overall a good course. It was a beautiful park with a lake so the scenery was nice too. I think we all did great times, Josh beat us once again with a time of about 50 min, I ran it in about 55 min and Michelle was behind me by a few minutes.
Afterward we got watermelons and took a bunch of pictures. The Honikels came to support Josh and they bought us all dinner afterwards which was very nice of them.
All in all it's been a great week of running, I finally broke my 10 mile mark with a total of 11.5 miles this week. I did 2 morning runs including one on Saturday morning, I got up early and did a nice 4 miles. I want to keep up with the morning runs as it gets hotter this may be the only cool part of the day to get a good run in.... I also want to try and get out with the running group from The Running Lab for maybe a longish run on Wednesdays.

My 1st 10k

This morning I ran my very 1st 10k and it was AWESOME!! Michelle and Josh did the 5k so I ran alone but that was ok. I started getting really nervous as the day was getting near, that big ole fear of failure lurking it's ugly head! It didn't matter how many people said "oh, you'll do fine" or how many times I tried to tell myself that all I have to do is put one foot in front of the other and worse case I knew I could walk 6.2 miles.... but I have these standards I set for myself, I expect to RUN the entire race, no walking allowed unless I'm injured (heaven forbid), I also expect to finish the race and NOT be the last one to cross the finish line, and lastly if I can beat my last time then I consider it a success. Since this was my 1st 10k there was no time to beat but based on my last 5k time of 35:16 (35min 16 sec) I wanted to finish in 1:10 (1hr 10 min). Todays race was at Knott's Berry Farm. The race started a few min late but I had my watch on and started the timer as I crossed the start line.... at the halfway point my time was 35:28 so I was happy with the first split and felt strong... head out for the rest of the course and pass 2 water stations but still felt good and figured I didn't want to mess up my groove and could make it the rest of the way.... the last mile my hamstrings started getting a little tight but still felt good....I knew the kids would be at the finish line this time so I was excited to see them and when I came around the corner onto home stretch I could see them all cheering for me and it was AWESOME!! My time- 1:10!!! All in all I think it was a great experience and couldn't have gone better. I wouldn't change a thing! I am so proud of myself for following thru and doing it. Now I need to cross that off of my New years goals! Yay!!

The rest of the day we spent at Knott's riding rides and having fun and now I'm exhausted so I am going to crawl into bed now....

live and learn...

They say running clears the mind and I hear that people solve problems while running... I learn more and more about myself when I run and it seems the longer I run the more I learn.

Yesterday Makenna and I went over to the bike trail for our long run. And about 2.5 miles in we were both starting to get tired, more her than me but I figured she was on her bike so she would be fine... At the turn around point we stopped for a quick drink and headed back. She did great for about another mile and then started complaining that her legs and butt were "killing her"... I kept reminding her that Pinkberry was waiting for her at the finish...that only worked for so long and at around mile 4 she was done! She got off her bike and said "that's it, I can't go anymore" so I ended up walking her bike back the last mile with her walking s-l-o-w-l-y behind me. All the while I realized a few things about myself, first is that I get bored way too easily and anything over 4 miles is just tedious and extremely boring!!! I have no idea why I felt like I needed to become a long distance runner, it's probably that whole "all or nothing" attitude I have where I can't just "dabble" in something, I gotta go gung-ho and all out! Well, now that I've gotten back into cycling and have been reminded how much I absolutely LOVE riding, the running just doesn't have the same appeal. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy running and the benefits of what it has done for me. And I have every intention of continuing to do my 3 days a week running and my monthly 5k because those are FUN, but I just don't have the desire to go out and run 5, 6, or 7 miles... I will do the 10k that I've committed to on the 15th because I have those 'goals' that I set at the beginning of the year and I would really like to accomplish as many of them as possible... I may just need to re-think the plan of attack. For example, I will need to run a minimum of 10 miles a week in order to make the 500 mile mark I want to hit by the end of the year and was counting on the longer miles to help get me there, but since that wont be happening I think instead of just running the 3 days a week I've been doing I will make an attempt at running every other day so that on some weeks I will have 4 days of running and that will help get some mileage in.

This morning I took the new wheels out for their initiation spin- 22 miles and another awesome ride! The seat is a bit harder than my old one so by the end of the ride the sit bones were screaming but that's good because I think with each ride they will get a little tougher and eventually the longer rides wont be as painful. I love the new bike and it rode like a dream. I was afraid that the breaks, gears and handlebars would be hard to get used to but it wasn't too bad and I think I'm going to get many, many wonderful miles of riding from this bike. I will post a picture soon.

Baby's got a new set of wheels....

Well, it started out with one of the best rides I've had since I started riding a couple years ago. I headed out to do 20 miles with a goal- 10 miles out non-stop, a short rest and 10 miles back non-stop. Trying to toughen up the sit bones and really the only way to do this is good ole' saddle time, so that's what I set out to do. I rode to Yorba Regional Park which is about 11 miles from home and made it there non-stop in just under an hour. Then stopped for a quick drink (2 minutes) and headed home. There must have been a slight tailwind because all I know is I was flying (or at least the 17-18mph I was doing sure felt that way to me)! I made it all the way back home in around 35-40 min!! It was awesome! That was what initiated the trip to REI to get a rack for my car- so I could take our bikes and go. When I got it home it did fit on my car, which I hadn't been sure it would, but then the bikes wouldn't fit on the rack - BUMMER! I packed it back up and returned it and figured I'd at least get a new helmet since I had been wearing that ugly lavendar one since I started riding and have been meaning to get a better one (or at least better looking one). REI didn't have anything I liked so I stopped at the bike shop- UH OH... that pretty Specialized Dolce was sitting over in the corner ON SALE calling my name.... literally! Well, I asked AL if they would take a bit more off and he said they would take another $50 off and they'd also give me $100 for my Specialized Exhibition that had about 55 miles on it and was only taking up space in the garage... "SOLD" It's a very pretty bike too, black with pink swirl design on the frame and I simply cannot wait to ride it! Tomorrow I am going to take it in to have them put my pedals on it and then Sunday morning I'm going to get up and try to hammer out a repeat of last weekends perfect ride.

Tomorrow Makenna and I are going to take her bike over to the riverbed and I'm going to run 5.7 miles or die trying.... I wanted to do 5.5 but the mile markers I need to use are spaced out that far so until I get a Garmin and can tell how far I've run this is what I have to work with.

I was reading Kristin Armstrong's blog earlier and she said something on there that kinda hit home for me and I am going to try and remember this, especially for this long run, the longest run for me so far. It said
"A quiet and tenacious voice spoke to me and told me to take my time, go whatever pace I needed to go, but under no circumstance was I permitted to quit."

I'm hoping for the best but am fairly nervous- damn that fear of failure hang up!!